Editor’s Introductory Note: This is a re-post from the early days of SurvivalBlog, back in August, 2005. Blog Years are like Dog Years. To explain: SurvivalBlog has been published since before most people had even heard the word “blog” for the first time. A piece this old has probably never been read by 90% of the current SurvivalBlog readership. So we feel fairly safe in re-posting it. BTW, we recommend that any new readers take a look through the archives of SurvivalBlog’s first year, to come up to speed on our jargon, core beliefs, and unique acronyms. – JWR
Fletch runs the YouTube channel OzarksTactical Homesteading, the description of which reads, “Liberty-minded, faith-based, pro-Second Amendment, pro–home school.” He posts videos on prepping and reviews tactical gear from his property somewhere in northwest Arkansas. Occasionally, Fletch records rants in the car. The mainstream media and Walmart door greeters—the “door gestapo”—are recent targets of his iPhone manifesto. He’s gained more than 5,000 subscribers since launching the channel in 2011.
Why do our dystopian urges emerge at certain moments and not others? Doomsday—as a prophecy, a literary genre, and a business opportunity—is never static; it evolves with our anxieties. The earliest Puritan settlers saw in the awe-inspiring bounty of the American wilderness the prospect of both apocalypse and paradise. When, in May of 1780, sudden darkness settled on New England, farmers perceived it as a cataclysm heralding the return of Christ. (In fact, the darkness was caused by enormous wildfires in Ontario.) D. H. Lawrence diagnosed a specific strain of American dread. “Doom! Doom! Doom!” he wrote in 1923. “Something seems to whisper it in the very dark trees of America.”

If you choose not to can or dehydrate your own foods, Emergency Essentials has all your bases covered, with a huge selection of freeze-dried and dehydrated foods to see you through in a crisis. We’ve got everything from whole grains to fruits and vegetables to premium meats, so you know you’re getting high-quality food that’s packaged and processed with your family’s needs in mind.

Who cares if you spent your entire life savings on survival supplies instead of taking vacations with your family or sending your kids to college? They got a real education when you took them into the woods every weekend to teach them how to set booby traps for when the zombie neighbors invade! They can pass on that knowledge to their children! See, it wasn’t a waste!
Some people really enjoy building custom survival kits. Each piece of carefully chosen gear serves a vital role and has its proper place in your equipment. But if you lack the time or the inclination to assemble your own kit, then let Ultimate Survival Technologies do it for you. And let’s be honest, they make half of the gear you’d want anyway. The new line of updated UST FeatherLite Survival Kits contain a heaping helping of the gear and tools that you’ll find indispensable in an outdoor emergency (or if things get tough anywhere else). This compact orange pouch lets you carry a safety net of supplies everywhere you go. The streamlined 9 ounce kit is a must for your hunting pack, bug out bag, car, boat or even your home. The

Still, these extraterrestrial-looking foodstuffs seem to be having something of a moment: For the past four years, Costco has been selling pallets of shriveled vegetables, fruits, grains, and meats that promise to feed a single family for up to a year—and if you’re not a member, you can purchase similar survival kits, many of which boast a 20- to 30-year shelf life, at Walmart and Target. One top seller, Wise Company, saw its sales nearly double over the past four years, reaching around $75 million, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek cover story last November. The company’s CEO, Jack Shields, told me he estimates the industry as a whole generates between $400 and $450 million annually in retail.

The SEVENTY2 survival system from Uncharted Supply Co. offers everything you need to survive the first 72 hours of a disaster scenario. This survival kit is complete with 35 high-quality survival tools, including fire starters, a water filtration system, First Aid items, calorie-dense rations, and navigation tools—and that’s only the beginning. Trusted experts have collected only the most necessary tools to ensure you have everything you need to survive—and nothing you don’t. Don’t get weighed down with arbitrary survival gear; with the SEVENTY2 in hand, you can have peace of mind that you’re prepared for anything.

"I had a dream not long ago that was sort of like God said, ‘I will show you these things,’ and that we’d lost both grids on the East and West Coasts, and I saw trains coming in, packed, standing-room only, from both coasts, and they were just releasing them into Mark Twain and everywhere. Those people were then forming little camps—15, 20 people per camp. And I saw a colored boy and a white boy, youngsters, and they were talking. And the white boy is talking, and he says if you steal wood from any of those people, only take one piece, because if you take more than that they’ll miss it.

3. The water will slowly filter through the charcoal and drip out of the cap. Put a bandanna or another cloth over the hole to filter out any bits of charcoal. (If you’re experiencing intestinal distress—and you very well might be, since your body goes into different kinds of shock in these situations—eat a little bit of the charcoal. It’ll help bind you back up.)